Anyone used one of these? Any recommendations/thoughts?
As my car spends the vast majority of it's time going nowhere, this seems a good idea to keep it topped up!
Haven't used one, I looked at them for my motorhome but decided against it. Have you thought about a [url= http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs7000.php ]Ctek[/url] charger. Maintains the charge of your battery in a much better way than a solar charger, can be used in the garage and it obviously has another use. Or was the idea to not have it plugged into the electrics?
Or was the idea to not have it plugged into the electrics?
Yep, car's not kept in a garage, so no access to a power supply.
Try Maplin, loads there.
Stoner Sr has one i nthe motorhome. Came with it, wasnt a special purchase. See no reason to believe it doesnt work.
Might be worth taking a reading of the current draw when the car is sitting there (my land rover flattened the battery in a month thanks to the alarm system) and then calculating (*) what wattage PV panel would be best suited to keep your battery topped up during winter.
* ask in here if teh numberz are tricky for you 😉
I used one on my Triumph (motorbike) - it kind of worked over winter with the battery only going entirely flat once I think (the alarm was savage on the battery). How much good it did I don't know, but I would like to think that it helped the bike out a little!
A bigger one would obviously be better (that was an Oxford Solariser)
I used one of these on a 16 year old Escort a few years back. It was only a smallish panel blue tacked to the top of the dash and plugged into the cigarette lighter. Before using it the car would regularly need a jump start if left for a few days, but after fitting it, the car would always start no problem. The only time I remember it not starting after fitting the charger is when the car had been covered in snow for quite a few days.
When the car got nicked, it was one of the few things not in the car when it was recovered, so the thieving gits who took the car must have liked the solar charger too.
I'd definately recommend one for a vehicle that spends days or weeks at a time parked up, and I'd think newer ones would be more efficient too.
Be careful, some modern car glass has uv filtering built in so solar panels won't work...
